Customer Reviews

Bin Laden, Islam, and America's New "War on Terrorism" (Open Media Series)

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

While I would never call this a balanced book, it does have its virtues. First, given how we in America tend to only hear the Israeli side, there should be some voice to the Arabic side. The book is excellently divided in chapter topics, and is a easy read.

Scholars may have little use for the book, but for the lay person and college student, this is a good book. But, due to the shock to the system that an American will feel by reading this book, I recommend reading Paul Findley's THEY DARE TO SPEAK OUT first.

Lebanese scholar As'ad AbuKhalil examines the roots of the September 11th crisis, the causes for antipathy, toward the United States, and the historical relations between the US and Islamic world. AbuKahlil also reviews the backgound of US entanglement with the Middle East, and how it catalyzed the militant fundamentalist networks that came to percieve the US as the enemy. Begining with an introduction on the legacy of Western misconceptions of Islam and Arabs, the book focuses on Islamic fundamentalism and US foreign policy, and the way both polarize the world into "good and evil" and "with us or against us" world view. Drawing heavily from Arabic language sources, AbuKahlil discuses the rise of Osama bin Ladin and Al-Qa'idah, the Saudi connection, the Arab-Israeli conflict, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and the implications of America's New "War on Terrorism".

This book is factual and straight to the point... the author could have easily padded the book and made it 300 pages with endless analysis and unnecessary references and proofs etc... (like most other authors do), but instead he just gave the point of view of a real arab who knows what is going on, have experienced it and knows all the history behind it... after all who are you expecting to give you the real picture of what is really going on in the middle east? the students of middle eastern affairs in the united states and france? I am confused with some of the reviews below, some were longer than the book itself...

p.s. my comment excludes my opinion about the writing style which I did not care for much...

I loved this book, it was a breath of fresh air for me. It's a progressive Arab perspective on The War of Terror,Israel/Palestine, Islamic extremism, the U.S., etc. The author does have a blog called The Angry Arab Blog or something like that, lol. When you read this book you'll realize there's good reason for him to be angry and why many in the Arab world and world in general are angry, including myself. This is a great book for progressives and ppl who want to know a good Arab perspective on these issues. It's very easy to read and less than a hundred pages. I highly recommend it. This is MY opinion and I'm allowed to have it, if you don't agree with me that's fine. He has another book in the same series where he takes on the Saudi regime.

This book is a good introduction to the current political situation and the so-called "War on Terror". Most people don't have a clue what is going on and if you are one of them, I recommend reading this book. It is a quick read and you might just learn something. AbuKhalil's next book is about Saudi Arabia and should be very informative.

I must commend this author for his insightful work. Abukhalil dispels the misconceptions and irrational fear many Americans have about Islam. It also points out the numerous contradictions regarding the United States government and our concern for human rights. Check this out by all means if your a thinking person, if not continue following the flock while Dubya beats the war drum.

This writer is subtle and complex, and opens new perspectives. Unfortunately, he also cuts corners in trying to compare Bush and Bin Laden as misogynistic fundamentalists, for instance. It's like comparing apples and oranges, no doubt. The cultures they are leaders of are so separate, so strangely different in their fundamental assumptions, that probably no simple comparisons can be made. The worlds that Bush and Bin Laden represent have nothing to do with one another.

For instance, in Bin Laden's culture, his home country of Saudi Arabia, it takes two women to contradict a single male in a court of law. There is no pornography sold, and yet there is no rape. Interpersonal crime doesn't exist. And yet, adulterers are executed on the public square by decapitation.

Can you even begin to compare Bush's world with that? Bush's wife is a librarian. She can read, she doesn't wear a veil, she can make her own public policy speeches, and yet ...

There is no way to begin to compare these two cultures, and yet Abukhalil attempts to do so. The Saudis actually outlawed the game of foosball. They have a religious police force, in addition to the secular one.

It is a baffling thing to try to compare these two cultures, or to find any commonality.

In Japan, there is porno everywhere, but women are basically safe from interpersonal crime, but they have secondary social status compared to what they enjoy in America.

Trying to compare different cultures and to say they are the same in some ways is a hopeless task. This writer attempts that, and tries to judge George Bush and Bin Laden, but his standards are bizarre and arbitrary.

There aren't any universal standards, but nevertheless now that postmodern conditions exist, we are in each other's face in a way that wasn't true two hundred or even a hundred years ago. They can get on a plane and be in America in one day. We can do the same. But we don't understand each other. Through a complex comparative literature program, or something like that, we might begin to be able to translate across cultural boundaries and develop a sense of world understanding.

It would take a lifetime for anyone to be able to make sense of any two countries.

Abukhalil's got a lot of information at his beck and call, but doesn't really understand the American mentality at all, or the complex culture in which he is a professor. It is almost impossible that he could.

This clumsy attempt in a small volume may nevertheless be the best attempt we have.

yes, this book does have a few mistakes and it is short, but it is packed with info. while all of america is including all muslims as terrorists, it is nice for someone to stick up for them and show america what this "war" really is doing and will do.

The writer throws in an issue or a comment, such as Bernard Lewis receiving a chairship on NBC, and then goes on with allegations and personal opinions with no factual basis. He is totally unfair in his writing. The book is laden with the writers own opinions, makes too many conclusory statements, which, in academia, is often regarded as unprofessional. I would recommend that people look elswhere for fresh and intelligent perspectives on the war on terrorism.
look at Fareed Zakaria, Edward Said, and Alexander Cockburn.

This book was suggested to me as I embarked on a research paper on Islam and its cultural implications on the west for a political science class I'm taking. It first started out well, however, It lost me after a few pages. I felt that it lacked the academic analysis of a researcher and ended up being highly speculative. and verging on the propaganda side. could not use it in a paper.
would recommend you borrow it first before you purchase it.